New funding to get regional Victorians active

The three-year funding will help to make sport and physical activity more accessible and attractive to regional teenagers and women inspired to get active by VicHealth’s This Girl Can – Victoria campaign.

GippSport will support local sport clubs and associations to introduce a range of sport activities, including :

Implement social or modified sport programs for young people (12-17) or women and girls

Address gaps in participation pathways by supporting clubs to introduce new teams, programs or competitions for young people (12-17) or women and girls

Support clubs to use club facilities and venues as places for delivering active recreation opportunities (e.g. Yoga in Bowls Clubs)

GippSportProgram Manager Gene Parini, says the funding will help them create more opportunities for Gippsland residents to become more active and improve their health.

“This is about making grassroots sports more accessible and appealing to Gippsland locals, so everyone can get involved in the sports they love,” Mr Parini said.

“We want everyone to get active and embrace a healthy lifestyle, regardless of their age, gender or ability. We also want to hear from the community about what types of programs will get groups more active. We are open to offering alternative sports or modified versions of traditional sports to get more people involved.”

The funds will also be used to make sports clubs more inclusive for women and girls, by identifying quick, simple and cost-effective changes like scheduling women and girls’ matches on the main grounds and promoting women’s sport on social media.

In addition to providing more opportunities for women, girls and young people to get active, GippSport will work to improve participation rates of other community groups, such as creating participation opportunities targeting males over 30. and are planning to introduce socially modified sports programs like AFL 9’s and Social Soccer.

VicHealth CEO Jerril Rechter said the program aimed to address declining rates of physical activity and the associated impact on the health of Victorians.

“Regional Sports Assemblies have such fantastic knowledge of their local areas so we’re proud to work with them to meet the physical activity needs of regional Victoria,” Ms Rechter said.

“Less than a third of us do enough physical activity in a week to benefit our physical health and mental wellbeing,” she said.

“This funding is about making sport and physical activity fun, accessible and local for less active regional Victorians.

“We know sports clubs want to get more people in their community involved in their sport, which is why we’re working with them to make their clubs more accessible to everyone – regardless of their gender, age, ability, cultural background or what they look like.”